Sweet MInced Meat Noodles (炸酱面)

Posted by Vivian in Chinese, Noodles, Pork

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This is one dish that seems to have a wide variance in the ingredients that goes into the sauce. Being an amatuer, I have chosen to stick to the most basic recipe. I personally think that it is good enough for a quick-fix. The only 2 changes I have made to the original recipe are - added in some dried mushrooms and as well as some corn-starch to thicken the sauce so that it won't be too runny.

My Mum-in-Law recently made this with hoisin sauce because she ran out of Peking Dip Sauce. The sauce was yummy!! I shall attempt that one of these days.

Ingredients:

• 4 teaspoon garlic/shallots (chopped)
• ½ cucumber (shredded)
• 500g minced pork
• 4 dried mushroom (soaked overnight and diced)
• 4 tablespoon Peking Dip Sauce (甜面酱)
• 2 teaspoon light soya sauce
• 2 tablespoon dark soya sauce
• 400g flat white noodles (either Shanghai noodles or La-Mien)
• 80ml water
• 3 teaspoon corn flour

Preparation:

• Cook the noodles, drain and leave aside. 
• Remove core and seeds from the cucumber. Cut into thin strips. 
• Mix the corn flour with 80ml of water 
• Heat wok, add the oil. 
• Add garlic/shallots and stir fry until slightly brown. 
• Add the minced pork and stir fry till the pork is cooked. 
• Add in the mushroom when the minced pork is 90% done. 
• Add Peking Dip Sauce, light and dark soya sauce. 
• Add in corn-starch and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes. 
• Serve meat sauce over noodles 

Number of Servings: 4

Creamy Mushroom Pasta

Posted by Vivian in Italian, Mushroom, Pasta

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This is one of the dishes that I attempted when I first started trying my hands on cooking. The recipe came from Wokking Mum (http://wokkingmum.blogspot.com/) and I have to admit that it is indeed idiot-proof - minimal skills required and the dish will never taste horrible. Most importantly everyone in the family loves it.

I can’t quite remember how many times I have cooked this but it will always show up in the menu if I am feeling lazy, tired and or when I don’t have much time to waste in the kitchen for whatever reason. The unfortunate part is that this dish must be consumed within the same day and do not keep well… or else the cream sauce will turn into a pool of oil slick whether you warm it up using the microwave oven or over the stove.

To make the meal a little more "rounded", I will usually add in some shredded ham. Loads of freshly grounded black pepper gives this pasta dish that added kick!


Ingredients:

• 2 palm-sized portobello mushroom, diced 
• 8 brown cap button mushroom, sliced 
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic 
• 200ml whipping cream 
• 1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese 
• 1 tablespoon butter or olive Oil 
• Salt and pepper to taste 
• Pasta for two, pre-cooked 

Preparation:

• Heat wok and add olive oil or butter. 
• Add garlic and saute . 
• Add portobello mushroom and saute till well-cooked. 
• Add button mushroom and saute well. 
• Add in the cream and bring to a simmer. 
• Add half of the Parmesan cheese, cooked pasta, salt and pepper to taste. 
• Simmer till sauce thickens. 
• Dish and top with remaining Parmesan cheese. 

Number of Servings: 2

Fruit Punch

Posted by Vivian in Others

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I made this concoction last Christmas and it was by pure accident that I got the perfect taste. Putting it down here for record purpose - the proportion is based on my recollection (which can be highly unreliable on certain days!) .

Ingredients:

• 300ml Pineapple Juice (1-part)
• 600ml Sprite (2-part)
• 900ml Orange Juice (3-part)
• 300ml Grape Juice (2-part)

Preparation:

• Mix all the different juices together and serve chilled with ice.

Number of Servings: 6 to 7 glasses

Tonkatsu

Posted by Vivian in Japanese, Pork

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Ingredients:

• 6 pork fillet or pork loin 
• A dash of salt or light soya sauce 
• Pepper to taste 
• Plain flour 
• 1 egg 
• Panko 

Preparation:

• Pat-dry the meat and pound the meat with the back of the knife. 
• Marinate the meat with some pepper and salt (or light soya sauce). 
• Crack and beat the egg, and mix in about 2 to 3 teaspoon of water to thin the consistency 
• First, coat the fillets with plain flour. 
• Secondly, coat it with egg mixture. 
• Lastly, coat with panko - using fingers to apply a bit more pressure to ensure that the whole fillet is coated with panko. 
• Deep-fry the fillets until golden brown. 
• Top with tonkatsu sauce. 

Number of Servings: 2 to 3

Sausage Puff

Posted by Vivian in Snacks

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This was one of those random recipes picked up while surfing the net looking for breakfast ideas.

The pastry is frozen prata... the person who thought of this is a genius. I found out few months later that actually the Americans had something similar decades ago except that they use biscuit dough and call it "Pigs in Blanket".

The tradeoff of using frozen prata is that it is less puffy as opposed to an actual puff pastry dough. But for the convenience, I am prepared to live with that.

Other than sausage, ham works well for this recipe too.

Ingredients:

• Frozen prata 
• Sausage or chicken frank 

Preparation:

• Pre-heat oven to 180 Degree Celsius. 
• Thaw the prata slightly (not too much as it makes the dough difficult to manage). 
• Roll sausage in prata. 
• Make a few diagonal slits on top. 
• Brush top with egg (optional) 
• Bake for 40 minutes. 

Number of Servings: 1

Tsuyu Udon

Posted by Vivian in Japanese, Noodles

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Ingredients:

• 4 packs of udon noodles 
• 6 cups of dashi 
• 1 teaspoon sugar 
• 1 tablespoon mirin 
• 1/2 cup soy sauce 

Preparation:

• Heat up dashi. 
• Add sugar, mirin, soysauce. 
• Turn off gas before it comes to a boil. 
• Boil udon and drain. 
• Put noodles in empty warmed bowls and add in soup 

Number of Servings: 4

Oyako Donburi

Posted by Vivian in Chicken, Japanese, Rice

2 comments

Can't quite recall where exactly this recipe was picked up from... but this is a definte gem. Quick, easy and an almost-no-mess recipe.

The difficult part is getting the egg right. It was after a few rounds of trial and error before I worked out the magic. Never beat or whisk the egg because by doing so air will be incoprated into the egg and the end result is a pot of "stewed scrambled egg". Instead use the chopsticks to do a couple of zig-zag actions to break the yolk. Another important tip is to turn down the fire to low and let the egg simmer.

Ingredients: 

• 1 cup dashi 
• 2 tablespoon sugar 
• 4 tablespoon mirin 
• 6 tablespoon light soy sauce 
• 1/2 onion (sliced thinly) 
• Chicken thigh (cut into bite size pieces) 
• 2 eggs 

Preparation:

• Mix the dashi, sugar, mirin, and soy sauce. Divide into four portions. 
• In a small frying pan, heat up one portion of the mixture. 
• Arrange the onion slices and chicken thigh in the pan as the sauce heats up. 
• Cover the pan and let the chicken cook. 
• Pour the eggs into the pan and cook until 90% done. 
• Slip the entire mixture from the pan onto a steaming bowl of rice. 
• Top with seaweed (optional) 

Number of servings: 4